Add Any Application to the Windows Desktop Context Menu

This tutorial will show how you can add your favourite applications in Windows desktop context menu for quick access.

Step 1: Run “regedit.exe” and navigate to the following key:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shell

Step 2: Create a new key under the “shell” key by right-clicking on it, and then choose New > Key from the menu. Name the key anything you want to show up on the desktop context menu. For this tutorial, I’ll be using Notepad.

Optionals:

You can set the shortcut to show only when you press the Shift key. For this create a new “String Value” in the right-side pane of Notepad key with name “Extended.”

For quicker access using keyboard, add an “&” character in front of the letter you want to use, by modifying the (Default) value. Ex. &Notepad.

Step 3: Next create a new key under the “Notepad” key with the name “command.” This is the key that will hold the path to the application.

Now you need to browse to the exact application location and copy it’s full path.

Once you get that double-click on (Default) value and paste in the full path.

Once it’s done, it should look like this:

Now if you right-click on your desktop, you should get a menu like this:

Step 4: In this step we will define the shortcut icon and position.

To define an icon for the shortcut, select the “Notepad” key created in Step 3 and in right-side pane, create a new String value with name “Icon.” Set its value to your desired icon or the path of program’s EXE file.

To set the shortcut position in the context menu, create a new String value “Position” and set its value to either Top (as seen in above image) or Bottom (as seen in final image).

That’s it! The final result will be like this:

You can add any number of applications you want to the desktop context menu by following the steps again.